The Successful College Lecturer - Assignment Example

THE SUCESSFUL COLLEGE LECTURER Humanism Humanism can be defined as the ethical philosophy that allows one to differentiate bad or good, wrong or right. Other philosophers think that humanism is a wide area and whenever you ask anyone to define it, the answer will depend on the humanist being asked. Everybody will have is or her own reply, and that is in real sense humanism. This ethical philosophy establishes the basis with which the learners in a classroom are able to commit themselves to the search for the truth and moral teachings through the learning processes. Humanism is usually effective in cases where the learners need to use their common senses to judge problems being asked by the teacher or instructor. Among the rest of the theories that explain ethical philosophies, humanism is regarded as the best of them all when it comes to learning. Learners in their childhood stages are able to appreciate human nature, thereby giving them an opportunity to learn faster when they are in class. Humanism advocates for people to seek what they need to know by themselves as opposed to seeking them either from revelation or mysticism1. The effectiveness of this philosophy in terms of contributing to learning situations is good and need to be emphasized. It is believed that humanism allow people to think for themselves and are able to challenge any form of 'thinking' as they wish without fear Behaviourism It is also referred to the 'learning perspective'. The proposition of thinking, feeling and acting are normally regarded as the 'behaviours' of that person. The behaviours one develops either by imitation or taught affect the persons learning ability. In psychology, it is said that the behaviour of a human being are related to the environment they live in and this will contribute significantly on the learning ability of the persons. Behaviourism as in the way people act, is considered the easiest way to teach people what they should do and how to do it. Whether the results of the action will be right or wrong depends on the humanistic philosophy stated above2. The effectiveness of behaviourism is rated the second after humanism. This is because, the behaviours one achieves may as well be acquired from the same classroom or teaching space that is in question. Constructivism Any assumptions made on the natural being of people's learning that guides their learning methods and theories are called constructivism. Constructivism takes puts more emphasis on appropriate teacher -supported learning developments in an educational environments. It also gives an opportunity to each of the learners to develop their own unique background-achieved abilities towards their learning processes. In this case, the learner is seen as complex being with multidimensional cognition and acknowledges it as part of the integral process of learning. It therefore encourages, rewards and maintains it as a tool for use in learning. Constructivism also dictates how the learner socially interacts with other people within the society with a view to gain a learning experience through them. The vulnerable members of the learning community including the young children develop their abilities to think through the interaction with other children and the physical environment at large. It also motivates the learner to seek more and more knowledge from various sources making it very effective when it comes to teaching practices. Learners are ready to learn through all ways and that their motivation directly comes from their confidence and competencies. This helps teachers to link up their teaching contents with the level of developing the leaner is undergoing at the moment. Learning styles Majority of the people favour some particular forms of interactions3. These forms of interaction are learning styles that represent how best an individual can be able to adopt a specific method of learning suitable to him or her. There are four basic learning styles; Learning by seeing Learning by hearing Learning by processing text Learning by doing something-practical Vark Inventory Vark learning styles were developed by Fleming, Fleming (1992), and it described in detail the above mentioned styles. The most fascinating feature of the inventory is the fact that Vark styles considers that they are no wrong or right answers in a question. Vark assessment tool provides a questionnaire for allowing students to understand there learning processes well. The questions in the questionnaire are given to the students to judge their learning and they will be told that they learn through visual, aural, writing/reading or a combination of these. This particular form of questionnaire assesses how information is processed by each and every individual. Whenever this is known, it may be used to study how best the student can make the learning style more conducive and better utilized for learning. Reading/writing Students applying this learning style prefer to have their learning through a written language form. When the teacher writes the content of the, material to the student in a bullet point format, it means that the student can visually incorporate the material and absorb it as quickly as possible. Written material is also easy to reference in future in case the student forgets the information Visual More students are continuing to appreciate the use of visual aids in learning processes. Use of maps, diagrams, videos, charts and films during studying and other presentations helps the student to easily grasp the idea being passed on to them. It is also difficult to forget anything presented visually in a class and most likely, it will be kept in the brain for a long time4. Aural Some teachers teach so loudly by shouting to enable some students to grasp their ideas. This is usually the case in many schools where students may be forced to repeat and repeat reading a paragraph of a written material to assist the information stick into the brain. Soft spoken teachers make little impact on the learning progress and are regarded as poor teachers when it comes to aural learning. It is also recommended that students tape-record lectures and refer to it later for better understanding Kinesthetic This is a 'hands on' experience kind of learning where the students are not cooped-up listening to lectures in a classroom only. They are involved gaining first hand experience through lab work, filed experiments, and other outdoor demonstrations. A student would rather do than hear about specific information. This kind of learning is therefore considered the best of all as it in one way or another incorporates all the other three methods. Evaluation of a teaching space Laboratories are special learning environments that enable students to visually apply what they have learnt aurally in an experimental format. This learning environment gives every student an opportunity to test his or her own understanding abilities5. It also offers the student a conducive environment to see figures and facts about a topic formally discussed in class. The chemistry laboratory ensures that the student is familiar with the chemicals, equipment and other stuff at the lab. The furniture here is stools and tables usually used by the students while they are being instructed on what to do. The students can at one time sit and stand up when they are required. The chemistry laboratory contains lots of precautionary measures that should be adhered to by the visitors of the laboratory. As it is usually known, the chemistry laboratory is a storage facility that keeps a lot of poisonous and flammable chemicals that if they are not handled well may cause accidents to the individual or the laboratory itself. The space for the lab is usually big enough to house a maximum of 100 students at any one time. In addition, the ventilation, wall colours and diagrams of chemistry related topics are drawn on the walls of the building, making it a conducive environment of students to be in. The only disadvantage is that due to the many chemicals in the lab each emitting out different scents to the environment, the air is not clean but protective devices are used when it is in extreme case. Practical part Changing the sitting position of the student, changing group members, changing the sitting arrangement such a curve, horizontal etc., and noting any effect on the learning process. Evaluation of change i. Changing the suiting arrangement When the usual arrangement is changed, the students tend to take longer times to adapt to the position. This will mean that, the student takes time to look at the writings on the wall near him or her, the nature of the furniture next to him or her or even the colours at the vicinity. This will lead to increased time wastage. The students will also find it hard to sit at the new position for longer periods of time thereby getting exhausted easily. If students are exhausted, they are likely to absorb very little information being taught by the lecturer. Moreover, the students tend to concentrate and communicate more effectively when they sit in a curved position. At this position, the students cannot misbehave or lose even a single moment of concentration. They will also be monitoring the behaviours of each of them. When 'heads' are close together, the thinking ability for each improves with regard to the sharing of ideas and the provoking of individuals minds ii. Increasing the laboratory space It is usually not recommended to have a bigger space to accommodate the students. There are high chances of students not concentrating on the instructions being offered. The voice ability to reach the students at the furthest end is low considering the fact that some teachers are soft spoken in nature. iii. Reducing the laboratory space On the other hand, if the space is reduced, the students will automatically crowd for free space. Chances are that more students are feeling uneasy about the room in terms of air circulation. It may also result in suffocation iv. Changing group members In the laboratory the normal procedures are that, students should keep changing their group members as they work in groups to help them understand the experiments better. This has greater impacts on the learning environments of the students affected. Some of them will take most of their time asking their new members questions about their family life, academic performances of even their social lives especially if they are in the higher grades. My reflections are that the students were very sensitive to any changing procedures within the laboratory. There should be minimal changes to the sitting arrangements, positions or even the space the students are used to. In some situations however, there is increased concentrations and information absorption, as the students associate the content being taught by the teacher and with time, they can easily remember the issue s discussed then. Different behaviours indicating that a learner is in difficult Dozing The common behaviour that indicate that students are bored by the teacher and his teaching stuff this is an extreme indication that, the teacher should either abandon the class or give the students a break for some time. Dozing has been associated with bad health or overeating especially in the afternoons when the sun is high and the classrooms are hot. The behaviour is observed not only among the young learners but also on old learners above their middle ages. Poor concentration Students who concentrate poorly in the class give the teacher an impression that, they are in some form of difficult. Most students either look through there window or bow their heads in desperation. This may have been caused by among other thins; family issues, difficult academic procedures or literally hating the teacher. Psychologists refer this as day-dreaming because in some ways, students may be dreaming of flying an aircraft one day so they keep on taking their minds may be to the airport or anywhere they have seen a pilot. This particular problem is common among young learners and teacher should do something to restore the situation. A solution available for the teacher would be to crack a few jokes after a certain interval to help them restore their minds. Sitting posture It is usually difficult for students to show the teacher directly that they are unease about the lecture, young as they are most of them will sit in a funny way and the teacher should be sharp enough top notice it. The sitting posture could be; sitting while kneeling forward or backward, legs adjusted at an angle or placing the head on the table. All these postures express some form of dissatisfaction about the learning process and the teacher need to address it. The best the teacher can do is to ensure that students are kept on check every time especially when it comes to visual learning styles. Watching a boring movie for example will lead to students sit improperly at the room where they are watching it. In that case, the teacher needs to look for another movie with same information that can serve the purpose. Yawning Excessive use of one learning style will exhaust the listeners. Excessive writing for example, means that students will read the material until they are not interested any longer. If this happens, the teacher will be of no importance to the students because they literally get nothing. In some schools, more teachers are beginning to embrace the combination of all the learning styles with a few to capturing the attention of the students every time they are in class. Noises Class noises are common amongst young learners or people with disabilities. This may result from queer behaviours that may have been noticed by the students but has not gotten the attention of the teacher. An example is the dressing style of a particular student which makes it funny for other students. The students may begin to laugh at the hairstyle of one of them and this detracts the learning process. School managements have stipulated strict rules to govern the dressing code of the students while at school. This has however, met harsh criticisms especially considering the fact that; the societies are changing very fast. Other behaviours that can be observed when students are in difficult are; students moving out frequently, being too quite etc. Group work Group work involves the informal learning through social interactions, meetings or even discussions. The objective of group work is to promote learning through group and individual interaction without divulging from the core goal of the group. Group work as in the case of a class members' grouping enables each and every student to learn from the ideas of their colleagues. All people have different minds, thinking abilities and Intelligent Quotients meaning that if they are able to share their ideas, they can be of importance to the other students who are academically 'weaker'. Use of visual aids in learning Visual aids are important tools for learning especially for the vulnerable learners. Accompanying written material with visual aids such as pictures is usually a plus for the teacher and the student. While studying a subject like geography, it is important that teachers bring up geographical, geological and political maps to explain their information. This will be more easier than being told to imagine the lakes in the United States. Field work This kind of learning style is used when students have already learnt enough theories in class. They need to apply these theories in real life situations especially in industrials courses and this can be achieved only by obtaining 'hands on' experience during the learning process. Learning strategy-group work Group work strategy is important when students are required to tackle specific search for information within a group of students. Group work, as defined by psychologists, entails the ability to bring heads together for a common purpose. Group work learning strategies such as group work is a strategy used to ensure that people learn together and learn from each other. Group work learning is one of the strategies used to generate knowledge within working teams. Most professions think that learning and group wok is inseparable and can only function as one. Knowledge is in this sense diffused from one person to the other and finally it is eluded. This strategy is used when; A combination of learning and relationship building is needed Social trust is key to the development of the students The students are socially, politically, and religiously divergent and there is need to bring them together When the information needed to be passed on to the students is difficult to understand Dealing with vulnerable and young learners Learning networks are to be developed Resources are to be shared equally among all students such as the use of school books, computers, software etc. While utilizing this strategy, it maybe difficult to assess individual learners but a few methods can be applied to achieve this objective. First, there must be individual presentations of the topic discussed. These presentations will, be able to give the teacher to gauge whether the student actually participated in the group work or not. Another method of accessing the individual learning capacity arising from the strategy is the use of class tests. The tests are usually based on the topic discussed by the group and each should student be required to answer questions about it. This has been clearly explained by the Vark learning inventory where students answer questions presented in a questionnaire but not necessarily to make them pass or fail. Another issue in using this strategy is the development of conflicts and lack of cooperation from the group members. This hinders the performance of the group making it less and less productive. It can however, be solved by allowing students to choose the groups they feel comfortable with and also clearly monitoring the progress of each and every group so that they may not go against the tangents of the topic mentioned. Adapting your teaching as a result of diagnostic assessment A diagnostic assessment is the ability of a teacher to informally judge the performance of a pupil prior to a set criterion of learning. This kind of assessment overlaps the formative assessment in that, it requires a quick judgment and no tests is usually carried out. Following a diagnostic there has been clear evidence of teachers failing to adapt to the teaching practices probably because of the work involved. 6 Since diagnostic assessments provides teachers with information on their students' misconceptions about a learning activity, then it can be used to change the tactics and approaches for the presentation of such information. The teacher can therefore prepare in advance for the class either by introducing the nest lecture immediately after a class taking the first few minutes of the lecture to make the assessment and act accordingly. Another adaptation tactic would be the teaching of a topic that will be mostly used in detail during the next topic. A topic like communication skills can be taught prior to a lesson on sales and marketing. This will in many ways require extra commitment from the teacher as he or she will, be required to preparedly squarely on how to tackle the course. 7 The teacher will also adapt to the concept building strategy which is useful for the learning process. Extensive reading by the teacher will be the best suggestion if diagnostic assessment principles are to be followed. International standards have been developed to guide the implementation of diagnostic assessments which has not been very successful in the past due to the workload associated with its implementation. Formative assessment Assessment of a program can be done at any stage of the problem when need be. Formative assessment is usually done at the beginning or at the course of the program to obtain a preliminary understanding of the successfulness of the program. This kind of assessment will give the teacher an immediate reflection of the learning progress of the student at a particular point of the program or on a particular course work. The most common assessment techniques are the class assessment. It is usually designed to guide the teacher on how to conduct the learning process and improve the quality of learning. Normally, it should be very evaluative or used as a grading measure for students because, this will lead to student discouragements for the rest of the course. Formative assessment is also used to change the curriculum in situations where the students' outcomes are not pleasing. The earlier the assessment is done, the better it is for the students. In addition, where multiple sections of the course are applied at the same time, formative assessment will give an insight to the effectiveness of the two courses to the students. It will hence provide information on the achievement of the goals and objectives set at the beginning of the program. 8 Formative assessment also improves the instructional quality of the teaching practices available for the teachers. In some instances, the assessment method can be incorporated with summative assessment method to obtain an overall overview of learning achievements. This is usually the case used when designing new curriculum in schools. At the end of the program, a comprehensive assessment, which will basically include the formative assessment, will be done to specifically help the assessors redraft certain policies to promote the learning procedures or implement new ones for a successful learning process. References Angelo, T. and Cross, K. (1993): Classroom Assessment Techniques; A Handbook for College Teachers 2nd edition, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Bardes, B. and Denton, J. (2001): Using the Grading Process for Departmental and Program Assessment Paper presented at the American Association for Higher Education Conference; Denver Fleming, N and Mills, C. (1992): Helping Students Understand How They Learn. The Teaching Professor, Vol. 7 No. 4, Magma Publications, Madison, Wisconsin, USA Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1992) Using your learning styles. Maidenhead, UK: Peter Honey. Hunt D (1985): Demystifying Learning Style; Formative assessments; Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Ingham, J. (1992): Learning Styles: Challenging and Transforming Education. InfoTech Journal. Knox, A. (1977): Adult development and learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Matthews, D. B. (1991) Learning Styles Research: Implications for Increasing Students in Teacher Education Programs. Journal of Instructional Psychology, pp. 228-236 Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. (1992) Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectations and Pupils. Intellectual Development, New York. Privy, P. (1979): Cognitive style, learning style and transfer skill acquisition. Columbus, OH: National Centre for Research in Vocational Education Scheck, R. (1988): Individual differences and learning strategies; Learning and study strategies: Issues in assessment, instruction and evaluation San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 171-196 Steve, K. (1995): Diagnostic Procedures: Education 5-14. SCRE (the Scottish Council for Research in Education), Scotland Watson, J. B. (1919): Psychology, from the Standpoint of a Behaviourist: humanism, Behaviourism and constructivist theories. Oxford University Press Zuriff, G. (1985): Behaviourism: A Conceptual Reconstruction, Columbia University Press Read More